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Updated: June 26, 2025
This man stood slightly apart from the others, as though he had no part in what was going on; though Sanderson could tell from his manner that he was laboring under an intense strain. Miss Bransford and the big man were the opposing forces in what was transpiring Sanderson knew that from Miss Bransford's manner of answering the big man's question. Her "yes" had been uttered reluctantly.
This time it was a cold sweat, and it came with the realization that discovery was again imminent, for if, as Mary had said, she had kept Sanderson's letter to her father, there were in existence two letters his own and Will Bransford's inevitably in different handwriting, both of which he had claimed to have written. Sanderson groaned. The more he lied the deeper he became entangled.
He realized that he had been defeated in the first clash with the forces opposed to him, that Owen had turned traitor, that Mary Bransford's position now was more precarious than it had been before his coming, and that he had to deal with resourceful, desperate, and unscrupulous men. And yet, sitting there at the edge of the cot, Sanderson grinned.
I'd like mighty well to accommodate you, but I've got my duty to consider, an' I can't let him off. Ben Nyland has got to hang, an' that's all there is to it!" There came a passionate outcry from Peggy Nyland; and then she had her arms around her brother's neck, sobbing that she would never let him be hanged. Miss Bransford's eyes were blazing with rage and scorn as they challenged Dale's.
With Barney Owen looking on Sanderson was compelled to defer signing the affidavit, for Sanderson remembered the letter from young Bransford, bearing the younger Bransford's signature. The letter was still in the dresser drawer in his room, and he would have to have it beside him while he signed Bransford's name to the affidavit in order to imitate Bransford's handwriting successfully.
Whatever the motive, he had come, and since he had looked down into William Bransford's face, he had become conscious of a mighty satisfaction. The two men who had trailed Bransford had been cold-blooded murderers, and he had avenged Bransford completely. That could not have happened if he had not yielded to the impulse to go to the Double A. He was glad he had decided to go.
At the corner of the stable Sanderson halted and faced Owen. "You've got some explainin' to do," he said. "How did you know Dale had a letter from Will Bransford to his father; an' how did you know that Dale wanted me to write my name on that brand-registering blank so he could compare it with Will Bransford's name on the letter?"
He must imitate Will Bransford's signature to prevent Mary Bransford from suspecting the deception for at any time she might decide to go to Las Vegas to look over the records there. More, he must practice writing Bransford's signature until he could imitate it without having to look at the original.
"I'd have tried to fight Dale alone for Miss Bransford's sake but I realize that things are against me. I haven't the size, and I haven't the nerve to take the initiative. Besides, I drink. I get riotously drunk. I can't help it. I can't depend on myself. But I can help you, and I will."
They were eager to get possession of Mary Bransford's property, but their real fight would be, and was, against him. But it was Mary Bransford that he was fighting for, and if he could get the herd of cattle to Las Vegas and dispose of them, he would be provided with money enough to defeat his enemies. But money he must have. At breakfast the next morning Carter selected the outfit for the drive.
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